John Russell Pope
B. 1874 New York City
D. 1937 New York City

 

John Russell Pope, the son of a successful portrait painter, studied at The College of the City of New York and received his Ph.D. in 1894 from the School of Mines, Columbia University. A year later he simultaneously won the McKim fellowship and the first fellowship to the American Academy in Rome. He was one of the first architectural students to master the use of large format camera, with glass negatives. After 18 months in Rome Pope entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  He returned to New York in 1900 and after three years with the firm of Bruce Price, began his own practice. 

 

For the next 34 years Pope consistently produced “dignified architecture of highly refined and restrained classicism.”  He was a consulting architect for many museums and colleges.  Pope’s original plan for the future growth of Yale University (significantly revised by James Gamble Rogers in 1921) is a prime document in the City Beautiful movement in city planning. His honors include the Architectural League of New York’s Medal of Honor in 1916, the Gold Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the French Chevalier Legion of Honor in 1922; the Royal Institute of British Architects; Fellow, American Institute of Architects, 1907 and National Academician in 1924.

. 

Pope’s most recognized works are: The Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art and the Temple of the Scottish Rite, National Archives Building, Constitution Hall for the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C.; The triumphal-arch Theodore Roosevelt Memorial at the American Museum of Natural History, The Frick Mansion (now Gallery) in New York City and the additions to the Tate Gallery and British Museum in London, and the War Memorial at Montfaucon in France.

[View site]